In the News Archives | Crucial Learning

New York Times: The Essential Skills for Being Human

Jordan Christiansen — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 20:18:52 +0000

Writes David Brooks: “In their book Crucial Conversations, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler point out that every conversation takes place on two levels. The official conversation is represented by the words we are saying on whatever topic we are talking about. The actual conversations occur amid the ebb and flow of emotions that get transmitted as we talk. With every comment I am showing you respect or disrespect, making you feel a little safer or a little more threatened.

“If we let fear and a sense of threat build our conversation, then very quickly our motivations will deteriorate. We won’t talk to understand but to pummel. Everything we say afterward will be injurious and hurtful and will make repairing the relationship in the future harder. If, on the other hand, I show persistent curiosity about your viewpoint, I show respect. And as the authors of Crucial Conversations observe, in any conversation, respect is like air. When it’s present nobody notices it, and when it’s absent it’s all anybody can think about.”

Read the rest of the article

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CNBC: Tim Cook Uses a 1-Sentence Mantra to Process Criticism

Jordan Christiansen — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 20:17:50 +0000

“Tackling criticism in a resilient way requires ‘detaching yourself from what is being said,’ so you can ‘bypass’ any feelings of inadequacy and defensiveness, [Crucial Conversations coauthor Joseph] Grenny wrote.

“That’s exactly what Cook said he’s learned how to do. ‘Talking heads critiquing — this kind of stuff kind of goes through me,’ he said. ‘It has to, or I wouldn’t be able to function.'”

Read the rest of the article

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Harvard Business Review: How to Communicate a Tough Decision to Your Team

Jordan Christiansen — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 20:16:24 +0000

It’s natural to want to dodge the tough work of sharing bad news. After all, who wants to tell a team that their project was canceled or that several team members will be let go? Instead of putting the announcement off, blaming higher ups for the decision, or behaving in a disconnected way, you want to present the news in a way that is responsible, honest, caring, and patient.

Read the rest of Joseph’s article for Harvard Business Review

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Harvard Business Review: 7 Ways Managers Can Help Their Team Focus

Jordan Christiansen — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 22:51:38 +0000

“It’s no surprise that people struggle to focus. We’re bombarded with distractions, burdened by unrealistic expectations, and drowning under too many incoming requests. Our team at Crucial Learning polled 1,600 employees and managers to better understand the severity of our collective failure to focus. The data painted an even bleaker picture of our tenuous attention spans.

One of our findings should be particularly alarming for people leaders: 60.6% of employees admit that they rarely to never do even an hour or two of deep, focused work each day without distraction. Where is all their time — and your money — going?”

Read the rest of Justin’s article for Harvard Business Review

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Forbes: How Avoiding Conversations Is Costing Your Organization

Jordan Christiansen — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 15:50:00 +0000

Gary Drenik: A lot has been written and discussed about the Great Resignation and how employees are changing jobs more than ever. What role has communication – or a lack thereof – played in this movement?

Joseph Grenny: If you can’t communicate with your leaders and colleagues, you can’t develop the relationships that are necessary to combat the issues that are arising in today’s world. Instead, when confronted with a crucial conversation, many of us resort to one of two options – silence or violence. We either don’t speak up at all, or we act out angrily.

But these don’t have to be our only two options. To help people feel safe in these crucial conversations, we must establish mutual purpose and mutual respect. Often a specific complaint is really one aspect of a larger problem. If we can come to a colleague with a sincere desire to solve a shared problem, they’ll be more likely to work with you in a productive way.

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Training Industry: How to Build an Effective Coaching Program

Justin Hale — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 18:09:23 +0000

A common challenge when implementing a coaching program is making sure that leaders have the necessary skills to be effective coaches, shares Justin Hale, master trainer and training designer at Crucial Learning. “When it comes to picking people in our organization that exemplifies the traits of an ideal coach, most times we’d all probably pick the same people in our organization,” Hale said. “But you cannot completely drain the time from [a] small handful of people to provide coaching to everybody.”

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Harvard Business Review: How to Respectfully Discuss Contentious Issues at Work

Joseph Grenny — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 16:08:00 +0000

“You probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that people are more hesitant to speak up at work now than they were a few years ago. I certainly wasn’t shocked when a study our firm conducted in late 2021 of more than 1,400 people confirmed this. After all, we are living in one of the most volatile social landscapes of our time. But while that finding wasn’t surprising — the magnitude of the fear was.”

Read the rest of Joseph’s article for Harvard Business Review

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HR.com: Six Tips for When It’s Time to Have a Crucial Conversation

Joseph Grenny — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 23:13:00 +0000

“Have you felt more afraid to speak your mind at work or at home lately? You’re not alone. A Crucial Learning survey of more than 1,300 people found that an incredible 9 out of 10 respondents have felt emotionally or physically unsafe to speak their mind more than once in the past 18 months.”

Read the rest of Joseph’s article at HR.com!

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Global News Radio: Afraid to Speak Your Mind?

Jordan Christiansen — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 23:27:00 +0000

Emily Gregory, coauthor of Crucial Conversations, spoke with Global News Radio in Ontario, Canada, about why more and more people are afraid to speak their minds.

Listen to the full interview here.

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What’s Essential Podcast: Shortening Your Lagtime!

Jordan Christiansen — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 23:41:00 +0000

Crucial Learning cofounder and New York Times bestselling author Joseph Grenny sat down with Greg McKeown for his What’s Essential podcast to discuss why talking about tough issues is important to maintaining healthy relationships.

Click here to listen to Greg and Joseph’s conversation.

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